page_title: Coat of plates
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Coat of plates / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Løgumkloster church. Gothic reliquiary: Saint Maurice Deutsch: Klosterkirche Løgumkloster. Gotischer Reliquienschrein: St.Mauritius
context_page_description: A coat of plates is a form of segmented torso armour consisting of overlapping metal plates riveted inside a cloth or leather garment. The coat of plates is considered part of the era of transitional armour and was normally worn as part of a full knightly harness. The coat saw its introduction in Europe among the warring elite in the 1180s or 1220s and was well established by the 1250s. It was in very common usage by the 1290s. By the 1350s it was universal among infantry militias as well. After about 1340, the plates covering the chest were combined to form an early breastplate, replacing the coat of plates. After 1370, the breastplate covered the entire torso. Different forms of the coat of plates, known as the brigandine and jack of plates, remained in use until the late 16th century.
context_section_description: The early coat of plates is often seen with trailing cloth in front and back, such as seen on the 1250 St. Maurice coat. These has been described as metal plates riveted to the inside of a surcoat. There is debate regarding whether the plates inside the armoured surcoat overlapped, but the armour is otherwise similar. Quantitatively speaking, however, most of the known evidence for coat of plates and brigandines dated from 14th and 15th centuries actually displays arrangements of overlapping plates; and although there are exceptions to this rule, they are not many.
  Presumably, the development and the latter popularization of this type of harness is directly linked to the knightly needs for better protection against cavalry lances, since the former protection of mail and aketon made the horseman vulnerable only to such strikes. In Mike Loades' military documentary called Weapons that Made Britain: Armor, the older set of mail harness and aketon proved itself unable to stop lance strikes at horseback charges. The addition of an authentic reproduction of coat of plates, however, provided sufficient protection against all the lance strikes, even the most powerful of them couldn't penetrate through the combination of padding, mail and plates, proving its effectiveness as the new cavalry protection. 
  The earliest use of iron plate reinforcements is recorded by Guillaume le Breton . In his Phillippidos, prince Richard - latter King Richard I of England - is described wearing a ferro fabricata patena at a jousting tournament in 1188. Such iron breastplate, like latter references of early developments of such harness, was described being worn under the hauberk, thus not being visible when all the armor was properly worn. The evidence that such new harness is firstly mentioned at jousting reinforces the assumption that such developments were designed to protect against lance strikes. 
  Iron plate reinforcements would be recorded again in Heinrich von dem Türlin's Diu Crône, from 1220's; the gehôrte vür die brust ein blat is mentioned after the gambeson, hauberk and coif, but before the surcoat, thus still not being entirelly visible. Such match of using the new iron reinforcements under traditional armour is usually described by latter sources, which explains why this sort of armour so seldom appears in illustrations and statuary before the late 13th century. 
  By mid-13th century, artistic evidence shows similar plate pattern to that of St. Maurice's Effigy in a German manuscript . The fact that German men-at-arms often are described with these armor in art or military records under foreign lands might suggest they were behind their popularization in Europe by that time. The coat of plates worn by German knights at the battles of Benevento in 1266 and Tagliacozzo in 1268 rendered them nearly invincible against French sword blows, until the French realized the German armpits were poorly protected. Contemporary to this, Scandinavian sources from mid-to-late 13th century also makes reference to it: in the Konungs skuggsjá, from around 1250, it is called a Briost Bjorg and specifies that is should cover the area between the nipples and the belt. The later Hirdskraa of the 1270s calls it a plata, informing that it should be worn beneath the hauberk, permitting it only to the highest ranks of Scandinavian military, from skutilsvein (knight) and up. In Barcelona, for instance, there was a local production of coats-of-plates — then called "cuirasses" − since 1257; King James II of Aragon ordered such cuirasses to be made for him and his sons in 1308, of whom were covered in samite fabric of different colors.
  
  In the transitional period segmented armour like the coate of plates was replaced by larger, better shaped and fitted plates. Mathias Goll stresses that while plate armour was more effective, the segmented armour could be "lighter and more flexible while it left less "dangerous" chinks". The segmented armour also put fewer demands on the craftsman, requiring fewer tools and less skill, also being prominently cheaper. As a consequence,
caption: Løgumkloster kirke - Heiligenschrein 4
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